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Geroge Owen Wynne Apperley (1884 - 1960)

He was born in Ventnor on the Isle of Wight and died in Tangier. His early
childhood was spent in Seaside towns on the South coast of England and in
Alton, Hampshire. It was here when George was six that his father died in a
hunting accident, leading his mother to take him to Torquay where they then
settled. His mother later remarried. It was not felt fitting that an
Apperley should become simply a painter — indeed George's stepfather
was keen for him to maintain the family tradition and join the military
while his mother harboured a desire for him to join the Church. Apperley's
interest in art however was obsessive and he was sent, in consequence, to
school at Sandhurst and later to Uppingham — both renowned for their
disciplinarianism. Here he showed little interest in academic subjects other
than art and later persuaded his family that a tutor would be more
beneficial to him.

In 1903 he enrolled at Herkomer's but his rebellious streak and his somewhat
Bohemian lifestyle led to his expulsion the following year — the
teachers at the school were not impressed by his work. He returned to home
tutorials, and, in 1904, with his tutor, Major Wilkinson, he visited Italy.
It was on this tour that his serious art education began. When he returned
he began to paint seriously and to show and sell his work. In 1907 he
married Miss Hilda Pope, a union not deemed to be fitting by her parents,
and the couple honeymooned in Lugano. On their return they established their
home in West Hampstead, London, for the first time affording Apperley a
stable base from which to develop his painting techniques and to exhibit
more frequently. He had exhibitions of his work at the Baillie Gallery
London (1906), Leicester Galleries in 1908 and 1910, and his work was
noticed favorably by Huntly Carter in a New Age report on the Leicester Gallery show.

An MJP site-user has contributed the following information: “G. O.
Wynne Apperley continues to be a popular and collected artist in Spain.
Two of his sons are still alive and well, and a grandson runs a website
that supplies 'giclee' reproductions of his work http://www.apperley-art.com/index.html. He was never really
a modernist, but became a technically superb watercolourist who earnt a
living from portraits and townscapes. There is an article in The Studio
(circa 1920) about his work. He is represented in the museum (currently
siteless) at Bushey, Hertfordshire: Curator, Nick Brown.”